The Ostrogoths were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who had settled in the Balkans in the 4th century, having crossed the Lower Danube. While the Visigoths had formed under the leadership of Alaric I, the new Ostrogothic political entity which came to rule Italy was formed in the Balkans under the influence of the Amal dynasty, the family of Theodoric the Great.
Theodoricthe Great, also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526), and a patrician of the Eastern Roman Empire. As ruler of the combined Gothic realms, Theodoric controlled an empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Adriatic Sea. Though Theodoric himself only used the title 'king' (rex), some scholars characterize him as a Western Roman Emperor in all but name, since he ruled large parts of the former Western Roman Empire, had received the former Western imperial regalia from Constantinople in 497, and was referred to by the title augustus by some of his subjects.
The 470s decade ran from January 1, 470, to December 31, 479.
The 460s decade ran from January 1, 460, to December 31, 469.
Year 471 (CDLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Novus and Probianus. The denomination 471 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Zeno was Eastern Roman emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues. His reign saw the end of the Western Roman Empire following the deposition of Romulus Augustus and the death of Julius Nepos, but he was credited with contributing much to stabilising the Eastern Empire.
Basiliscus was Eastern Roman emperor from 9 January 475 to August 476. He became magister militum per Thracias in 464, under his brother-in-law, Emperor Leo I. Basiliscus commanded the army for an invasion of the Vandal Kingdom in 468, which was defeated at the Battle of Cape Bon. There were accusations at the time that Basiliscus was bribed by Aspar, the magister militum; many historians dismiss this, instead concluding that Basiliscus was either incompetent or foolish for accepting Vandal King Gaiseric's offer of a truce, which the latter used to construct fireships. Basiliscus's defeat cost the Eastern Empire 130,000 pounds (59,000 kg) of gold, causing the empire to hover above bankruptcy for 30 years. When Basiliscus returned to Constantinople, he sought refuge in the Church of St. Sophia. His sister, Empress Verina, secured him a pardon and he left the church to retire in Neapolis.
Flavius Ardabur Aspar was an Eastern Roman patrician and magister militum of Alanic-Gothic descent. As the general of a Germanic army in Roman service, Aspar exerted great influence on the Eastern Roman Emperors for half a century, from the 420s to his death in 471, through the reigns of Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I, who, in the end, had him killed. His death led to the ending of the Germanic domination of Eastern Roman policy.
Aelia Verina was the Empress consort of Leo I of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a sister of Basiliscus. Her daughter Ariadne was Empress consort of first Zeno and then Anastasius I. Verina was the maternal grandmother of Leo II.
The Thracian Goths, also known as Moesogoths or Moesian Goths, refers to the branches of Goths who settled in Thrace and Moesia, Roman provinces in the Balkans. These Goths were mentioned in the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries.
The Leonid dynasty produced six Roman emperors during Late Antiquity, reigning over the Roman Empire from 457 to 518. The dynasty's patriarch was Leo I, who was made Roman emperor in 457. Leo's daughter Ariadne became empress and mother to an emperor, and her two husbands were themselves each made emperor in turn. Another relative whose name does not survive of Leo I or his wife Verina married the future augustus Julius Nepos, the last emperor in the western Roman Empire. The dynasty of Leo succeeded the preceding Valentinianic dynasty and Theodosian dynasty whose family trees were conjoined and ruled concurrently. Besides Julius Nepos, who administered no more than a rump state the Roman province of Dalmatia in the western empire during the fall of the west, the dynasty's emperors governed the eastern empire.
The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy, existed under the control of the Germanic Ostrogoths in Italy and neighbouring areas from 493 to 553.
Flavius Armatus, also known as Harmatius, was an Eastern Roman military commander, magister militum under Emperors Leo I, Basiliscus and Zeno, and consul. He was instrumental in the rebellion of Basiliscus against Zeno, and in his subsequent fall.
Aelia Ariadne was Eastern Roman empress as the wife of Zeno and Anastasius I. She is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with her feast day falling on August 22.
Aelia Zenonis was Eastern Roman empress as the wife of Basiliscus. Her ancestry is unknown.
Sabinianus Magnus was a general of the Eastern Roman Empire, who fought in the rebellion of Theodoric Strabo against Emperor Zeno.
Heraclius of Edessa was an Eastern Roman Empire general who took part in the failed campaign against the Vandals in 468.
Marcus was the son of the Eastern Roman general and usurper Basiliscus and Zenonis. He was acclaimed caesar in 475 and later promoted to augustus, ruling as junior co-emperor to his father. When Zeno reoccupied Constantinople in late August 476, Marcus, with his parents, hid in a church. Zeno swore he would not spill their blood, and instead had them exiled to Limnae in Cappadocia, where they were then starved to death.
Basiliscus was the only son of the Eastern Roman military commander Armatus and briefly caesar of the Eastern Roman Empire in 476–477/478. After the death of Eastern Roman Emperor Leo in 474, his grandson Leo II took the throne; dying thereafter, his father Zeno ascended the throne. Soon after Zeno's reign, Basiliscus' great-uncle, similarly named Basiliscus, forced Zeno into exile. However, Basiliscus soon lost support with Armatus betraying him by forming a deal with Zeno: Armatus would hold the rank of magister militum praesentalis for his whole life, and the younger Basiliscus would be made caesar. Although Basiliscus was crowned in late 476, Zeno soon moved against Basiliscus's father, executing Armatus and exiling Basiliscus into the clergy as a church lector in Blachernae on the Golden Horn. Later in his life, Basiliscus became a priest and the bishop of Cyzicus. He may have survived into the reign of Justinian. He is involved in the narrative of Victor of Tunnuna, who suggests that Basiliscus and Leo II are the same person, claiming that Leo II's mother Ariadne faked his death. The historian Brian Croke argues the story was false, considering this an attempt by Victor to explain the existence of a living Leo, as this was possibly the regnal name of the younger Basiliscus.
The Eastern Roman Empire was ruled by the House of Leo from AD 457, the accession of Leo I, to 518, the death of Anastasius I. The rule of the Leonid dynasty coincided with the rapid decline, collapse and eventual fall of the Western Roman Empire. Following the end of the Western Empire, Emperor Zeno abolished the position of Western Roman Emperor and declared himself the sole Roman Emperor. The Eastern Roman Empire would come to last for several more centuries, and subsequent dynasties would invest large amounts of resources in attempts to retake the western provinces.
